Kristen’s Birth Story

I have been trying everything to bring on labour, but those old wives tails definitely are not working for me. So I’m 39 weeks pregnant, we have just had a weeks’ worth of 40+ degree days and I am feeling it big time!

I’m in bed and need to wee, as I get up my waters begin to “break” it’s not a huge gush like I thought it would be, they continue to leak for about 10 minutes then it stops. I am madly googling if that is normal, apparently yes, so I don’t worry I know I have an appointment in 2 days I will get them to check then. Life goes on and I’m still leaking on and off, at my appointment I mention it and they send me to be strapped onto the baby monitor to make sure bub is ok, hours pass and by now I’m absolutely busting, the doc then comes in and says he is going to have to do a pap smear like test to see if there is any amniotic fluid pooling in me? Sorry but that’s just going to happen, I have braxton hicks and probably a day’s worth of water in me, no I cannot I relax for that! So they send me home with a referral for an ultra sound.

The next day I call every number on the referral; do you think I can get an appointment that day or even the next? NO. A week I would have to wait, well my brain says to me you will have had the baby by then! (god I hope so)

It’s almost been a week now and I’m still leaking, I decide to visit my mum who suggests I stop in at Macksville hospital on the way home, I do and straight away I get an ultrasound done, all is fine still plenty of fluid and bubs heart beat is normal.

Finally “5 days over” and its 2 am my waters break big time, I let my partner know, have a shower, go sit in the cool outside and try to have a nap, by 5 am my contractions are 5 mins apart so we decide to head into the hospital. This continues till about 9 am then they stop!!! Nothing is happening so they send me home. By 8 pm they have started again, they are strong but only 10 minutes apart.

Into bed, back up, into bed, back up, shower, bed, back up. I’m waddling down the back yard as now they are 3 mins apart and have been for an hour! We get in the car and drive to the hospital which is an hour away mind you! I think it’s about 4 am by the time we get to hospital and contractions have started to die down and I’m shivering, the midwife tells me its normal that it’s my body’s natural response but I keep asking for blankets, more and more of them. I suddenly feel sick, the most nauseous I have ever been, I spew.

The midwife does my observations, they’re fine. She then tells me she has run the birthing pool for me, sweet, that may warm me up. I’m shaking so horrendously now that I need my partner to help me walk and get undressed which I really don’t want to do because I am so cold. As I go to get in the pool the midwife grabs me (I don’t know how she felt that my forehead was hot) but she then proceeds to tell me I can’t get in I feel too hot! LADY I am getting in that pool I am too cold not to. So in I hop, she scuttles away and comes back with a different thermometer, 39.8! Great, I have a whopping fever and now have to get back out of the pool, dressed, have the doctor on duty called who declares I’m only 2 cm dilated and need to be sent to a bigger hospital as I’m now deemed “high” risk.

As I’m waiting for the Ambulance to come and get me everyone is trying to get an IV into me but failing. I am really starting to stress now. I haven’t had decent sleep in 30 hours. I have a fever and nothing is going how I had dreamed of it going. I start to get frustrated as they jab me over and over again. The ambulance finally arrives and manages to calm me down and get the IV in straight away. We’re off just like that, back to the hospital I didn’t really want to birth at because every time I had been there I was always waiting hours on end. My partner drove and the midwife was in the back with me (I did get some sleep).

As I get into hospital there is a team of people….doctors, midwives, trainees, wow that’s not really what I want. They do all my observations again temp still hasn’t come down. They slap the baby monitor on and tell me I can have syntocinon, well I really don’t want that, but let’s face it, by this time I don’t know what I want. They told me they would come back in a couple of minutes to see what I will decide to do.

I went to the bathroom. I’m assuming I have been in there a while because there is a midwife coming through door to make sure I’m ok? I don’t think so? There is about 8 different people standing in the room, now telling me that bubs heart rate has been over 160 bpm for an hour! Seriously how long was I in the bathroom? I have 2 options; have the syntocinon or a cesarean!

Um what?, this is bad now I had not in the slightest bit prepared myself for this, any of this. I cry and break down to my partner while my doctor says even if you do have the syntocinon you probably won’t go into labour quick enough as your still only 2 cm dilated.

Then that’s it my partner tells me a c-section is the best thing we can do so its happening. Before I know it they are shaving my pubic hair, inserting god knows what into my vagina so I can pee in a bag, then I’m upstairs for theatre!

The theatre is freezing; again there are a million different people in the room and I’m in shock of what the hell is about to happen. Spinal block and sliced open. I melt down on the table, lucky my partner is able to calm me down. I can hear the snipping or slicing and feel the tugging and pulling.

It’s a girl, we had a girl! They wrap her up shove her in my face then off they go with her. My partner and half of those million people go down to NICU. I start to lose it again, I feel like I’m convulsing but that is a common side effect of the spinal I just had.

I wake up in recovery, well that’s what I remember anyway. I may have fallen asleep in there but then again they could have gassed me because I was so upset as they stitched me back up.

Finally I get wheeled down to NICU and see my tiny baby covered in cords and heart monitors. I’m so drugged up that I don’t know what to think of all this.

Give her to me, I need to hold her! The feeling when she is in my arms is incredible I cry I smile and cry some more.